Author Archives: Plumbing Webmasters

SEO spam is a big problem for plumbing companies. For most plumbers, they fight spam from competitors who use black-hat SEO in an attempt to manipulate Google’s algorithm. Some plumbers, however, are the ones utilizing the spam. 

In the following podcast, Nolen and Jason discuss the trap of SEO spam for plumbing companies.

What is SEO Spam for Plumbers?

SEO spam is the intentional practice of engaging in black-hat SEO practices that provide no value to users. SEO spam includes:

• Mass-producing city pages.
• Claiming Google My Business listings with fake addresses.
• Publishing low-quality blog posts to acquire links.

Why Some Plumbers Spam

Some plumbing contractors spam because they have a mindset problem. But unfortunately, their misguided philosophy expands beyond SEO and into their overall business operation most of the time. They believe their ticket to success is manipulation, which leaves them on a hamster wheel.

• They have a mindset problem
• They run a lousy business operation
• They want to skip steps to sustainable success

SEO Spam Examples for Plumbers

Google has a baseline expectation for local plumbing company websites. For example, most plumbing websites have about ten pages in Google’s index. In many cases, this can be too low, but it’s certainly not spam. Let’s look at some spam examples for SEO for plumbing companies.

Content Mass-Produciton

Since most local plumbers have 10-page websites, a website with 500+ pages will set off algorithmic alarms. Why would a local plumber need 500 pages? The only reason is spam. No local plumber will service that many cities or have that much to write about in blog posts.

Google My Business Spam

A typical spam tactic is to create fake GMB listings or use fake addresses within a secondary GMB listing. Sterling Sky recently published an article about the state of spam-fighting for GMB listings, and it paints a bleak picture. Still, engaging in GMB spam can get your listing permanently banned.

Service Area Expansion

Plumbing companies that try to expand their service area too far will suffer the consequences. Google wants to rank local plumbing companies, not national ones. 

If you try to rank in cities, you cannot even service; you only confuse the algorithm and limit your clicks. On the other hand, you will get more traffic if you hone in on your primary service areas online.

The Better SEO Option for Plumbing Companies

Spam is a temporary benefit, at best. Plumbing companies that engage in spam typically have a subpar operations lacking sustainable profits. You can make more money by doing proper SEO marketing with white-hat strategies. Let’s consider some of the white-hat SEO strategies:

Legitimate Business Address

Instead of trying to slip a PO Box or virtual office through Google’s algorithm, invest in a legitimate business address in a prime area. Investing in a good address sets you up for long-term success. 

Instead of waiting for an inevitable listing suspension, you can build a long-term brand.

Legitimate Local Website

A legitimate local plumbing website won’t have 500 pages filled with spammed city pages and thin content. Instead, it will fall within the acceptable range of local contractor websites. 

A service page for each of your offerings will typically result in 10-20 pages. For blog posts, you should only publish high-quality content assets. Similarly, city pages should be limited to your actual service area.

Sustainable Organic Rankings

One misguided thought among some plumbers is that you need hundreds of pages to get good organic click volume. Focusing on quality over quantity ensures you get more clicks to fewer pages. Furthermore, quality helps you build long-term rankings that Google trusts to keep in its index.

The same is true of Local Map 3-Pack rankings, which are also technically organic. A legitimate business listing will stay in Google’s map rankings long-term rather than facing an inevitable suspension. Avoiding suspension assures you keep your accumulated customer reviews.

The Bottom Line About Plumber SEO Spam

Do white-hat SEO with proven tactics if you want to create a sustainable plumbing brand. Avoid black-hat SEO and spam that derails your online marketing campaign and overall business model. Spam is temporary, at best, and will ultimately cause the demise of your plumbing business.

You can navigate the online marketing space with long-term gains by investing in white-hat SEO strategies. While competitors try every new trick for short-term wins, you rely on the consistency of legitimate SEO strategies. You can learn more by contacting Plumbing Webmasters today.

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At HVAC-Plumber SEO Webmasters, we understand how to generate plumbing leads for companies. However, some contractors prefer to buy plumbing leads from 3rd-party vendors, which shall remain nameless. 

In today’s The Plumbing SEO Podcast, Nolen and Jason discuss this topic: Do you want to buy leads or build a brand?

Should Plumbers Buy Leads or Build a Brand in 2022?

Everyone can agree that plumbing companies want more customers. The disagreement is about how to get them. Many plumbers resort to buying leads from 3rd parties. While there’s nothing wrong with this strategy, it limits your ability to generate affordable and sustainable leads over time.

Buying Plumbing Leads

When you buy leads from a lead seller, you rely on their brand for your business. In addition, most of these companies sell shared leads which means that another plumber in your service area receives the same contact info. 

Furthermore, when plumbers buy these leads, the customer remembers the lead seller more than your plumbing company. So next time they require a plumbing service, they will probably call the lead seller before your business.

Building a Plumbing Brand

Building a plumbing brand generates exclusive leads for your company in the long term. The reason why most companies neglect to develop a brand is that it’s difficult. Building a brand requires an investment in marketing and a shift in your business mindset.

The goal of branding is the same as buying leads. However, when you create branded entities like a website and Google Business Profile, you generate consistent and high-quality leads for your business. These leads lower your cost per acquisition while increasing your closing rate and repeat customer rate.

Security vs. Gig Economy for Plumbing Companies

The difference between buying leads and building a brand stems from a philosophical distinction. Plumbers who live day-to-day in the gig economy will be stuck in the cycle for the remainder of their careers. 

However, plumbing companies with a business mindset will establish security and credibility and enjoy a better lifestyle away from the workplace. There’s nothing wrong with either option. The choice is yours.

How to Build a Plumbing Company Brand

You can build your plumbing company brand through marketing efforts like SEO, website design, and social media marketing. The easiest way to launch your brand is to claim and optimize your Google Business Profile. A Google listing is entirely free and can help bring in new customers.

SEO

SEO is the process of ranking on Google search results with your website and business listing. Ranking on these platforms generates free clicks. Of course, you still have to invest time and money into your SEO campaign and website, but the ROI is much higher than Google Ads or Pay Per Click.

Website Design

SEO drives traffic to your website, but you must convert that traffic into leads. The best way is through conversion rate optimization. Include unique photos of your owners, team, staff, and trucks so that potential customers feel good about your company. 

Also, add calls-to-action with contact forms and clickable phone numbers. Remember, a strong plumbing website design turns your organic traffic into prospective customers.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing rarely directly generates leads for your business. However, establishing a presence on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube builds credibility and increases conversion rates. Therefore, think of social media marketing as a part of your reputation management strategy.

Customers are most likely to invest in services they can trust. So, aside from the reputation benefit, sharing content on social media is an excellent way to build links back to your website. It also helps Google understand the legitimacy of your business.

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The most successful plumbers have a marketing-driven mindset. At Plumbing Webmasters, Nolen Walker knows this first-hand. Not just because he’s worked with thousands of plumbing companies over the past decade, but because he once ran a home service business himself.

In today’s The Plumbing SEO Podcast, Nolen and Jason discuss the importance of a plumber marketing mindset in 2022. Enjoy the episode below:

Principles of The Plumber Marketing Mindset

We hear about mindsets in business, athletics, and other competitive forums. But how do plumbers get into the right attitude? The truth is that many plumbing contractors already have the marketing mindset required to succeed in business. As a result, these plumbers invest in marketing heavily.

Marketing Foundation

A plumber with the right marketing mindset understands that marketing is the foundation of their business. Yes, it’s crucial to perform excellent services for clients, but that alone won’t make your company succeed. Instead, contractors must make marketing the foundation of their business.

Forward Thinking

Marketing in 2022 looks different than in years prior. Today, SEO for plumbers is the best way to achieve marketing success. SEO produces the highest ROI for plumbing companies, and it’s not even close. Getting listed on the Yellow Pages is not going to make a difference anymore.

Multi-Channel Minded

Even though we just criticized an old-school marketing tactic, we also highly encourage marketing diversification. For example, SEO is great, but it works better when you perform other promotional activities. For example, consider getting a truck wrap and running advertisements on Nextdoor.

Respect for Expertise

Plumbing companies that have ever faced legal troubles wouldn’t try to educate their attorney on the nuances of the law. The same should be valid for your marketing agency. Respecting the marketer’s expertise is key to success for plumbers. But, of course, some marketers are dishonest, which makes the selection process critical.

Long-Term Vision

Plumbers who view marketing as a lead-by-lead struggle will never find true success. Going for leads only puts your company in the gig economy and limits your ability to grow long-term. Instead, investing in your own branded entities for SEO, like a website, domain name, and Google Business Profile, are vital to achieving sustainable success online.

Best Marketing Channels for Plumbers in 2022

Once you enter the right mindset, you should focus on the specifics like marketing channels. When you invest in marketing, you’ll find that the answers become clear, especially with the help of a top agency. Take a look at some of the best marketing channels for plumbers.

Google

Google is the best marketing channel for plumbers, and it’s not even close. Plumbing companies can use SEO and PPC to acquire leads from Google. In addition, plumbers can rank their website, Google Business Profile, YouTube videos, and social media profiles on Google SERPs.

Nextdoor

Nextdoor is an untapped marketing platform for plumbing companies. Running ads on Nextdoor, a neighborhood community site, allows plumbers to infiltrate communities that once relied on traditional word of mouth. Digital word of mouth is highly valuable for plumbers in 2022.

Facebook

Facebook remains an important marketing channel for plumbers because of its multi-faceted application. For example, Facebook serves as a social media platform, a business citation, and an ads platform. Facebook ads for plumbers can yield positive results, and generating positive feedback through recommendations helps with conversions.

Thanks for joining us for The Plumber Marketing Mindset. Remember to subscribe to The Plumbing SEO podcast on Spotify and Apple.

Every year some hotshot marketer poses the question, is plumber SEO dead? It’s a clickbait question to garner attention. Here’s the truth: SEO ethics, skills, and competence are dead, but the practice is alive and well. At Plumbing Webmasters, we decided to ask a better question for today’s podcast episode, is SEO B.S.? 

SEO Sales Are B.S. in 2022

The sales routine of SEO marketers is B.S. in 2022. For example, most SEO companies call random businesses to identify urgent calls to action about their website. Maybe they highlight an ambiguous metric that causes the business owner to panic and fork over $2,000 per month for 12 months.

These people are horrific human beings and destroy the competence of the SEO industry. Since their services are awful, the business owner grows furious with the entire process and begins to resent SEO as an industry. And who can blame them? They’ve been screwed so many times that it’s perfectly reasonable.

Why Lead Generation Overtook SEO

Plumbers often seek out lead generation services rather than SEO in 2022. Who can blame them since most SEO providers are despicable human beings? The problem with lead generation services is that SEO creates the best leads, and without SEO or PPC, you’re not getting any leads.

The same is true of funneling services that fall into the same lead generation sales pitch. But your funnel is only as effective as your SEO or PPC process. So when a lead goes from your contact form to your plumbing CRM, that’s a fantastic feeling. But unfortunately, that action only takes place with good SEO or PPC.

SEO is Still Over 70% of Search

PPC is one way to generate plumbing leads; however, SEO is still responsible for over 70% of searches. If you only invest in PPC, your business has little chance of surviving long-term. At Plumbing Webmasters, we are interested in long-term partnerships since they’re beneficial for both parties. Of course, such a philosophy requires ethics, which most marketing companies don’t have in 2022.

Google Map 3-Pack results are organic, which some plumbing companies don’t understand. Local SEO is part of SEO which is why your Google Business Profile is essential for good results. But you can’t only have a GBP and expect to rank either. Profiles with a high-quality website associated with the listing rank much higher, on average, in local results.

Plumber SEO is Not Dead

Plumbing SEO is still the most inexpensive method to grow your plumbing company in 2022. the tactics still work better than any other marketing venture, and the long-term impact is still greater than any other form of digital promotion. As a result, plumbing SEO is not dead in 2022. The key to SEO is finding the less than 1% of SEO providers who actually care about your business.

Plumbing Webmasters turns down customers we can’t help, which most SEO providers never consider. Instead, they rope them into long-term contracts that leave them with an unpayable bill. For startup plumbers, consider going to Angi and HomeAdvisor before you invest in SEO services.

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At Plumbing Webmasters, every new client we speak with has been screwed by a digital marketing company at some point in their careers. Unfortunately, while there are a few good digital marketing agencies for plumbers, most web companies are horrible. In today’s The Plumbing SEO podcast episode, Nolen and Jason breakdown why most agencies are B.S.

Why Plumbing Marketing Companies Are B.S.

Most marketing companies are B.S. for the same reasons. They are companies run by salespeople with no SEO knowledge who manipulate the plumber into a long-term contract. Then, once they rope in the plumbing contractor, they perform horrific SEO work and spend money on PPC.

Sales Organizations

The worst type of marketing agency is a sales organization. They are great at sales, i.e., manipulation, but horrible at digital marketing. For example, they have no clue how SEO works or why it works in the first place. Still, they use jargon to create urgency for consumers and rope them into a 12-month agreement for an obscene monthly retainer—sales works…for the salesperson.

Long-Term Agreements

The B.S. of marketing agencies is noticeable in their payment structure. If the agency charges a multi-month agreement for setup, they will probably screw you service-wise. At Plumbing Webmasters, we only charge a nominal setup fee along with month-to-month agreements, so the plumber maintains flexibility and leverage. 

Unfortunately, the marketer has all the power with most agencies because of unfair long-term contracts.

Slap On Marketing

We recently did a podcast about slap-on marketing for plumbers, which details how most agencies operate. They might provide you with a WordPress theme template used by thousands of other websites. From there, they will publish spun content and throw on some subpar stock images, and claim to have optimized your website. Of course, none of this drives results for local plumbers in 2022, making it complete B.S.

Shiny Tactics

Since most internet marketing companies are sales organizations, they care more about appearance than results. Shiny features that may appear attractive don’t actually drive results. Most agencies invest in these tasks to manipulate their clients into choosing the services. A plumber doesn’t know what they don’t know, so they try to do their best.

Reporting / Liasons

SEO reports are a popular tool for sales organizations because they create a facade of progress that may or may not exist. They distribute these reports through account managers who are primarily babysitters for the agencies’ clients. They send out reports that highlight worthless metrics and throw their clients of the scent of B.S.

Non-Transparent Billing

Any kind of bundle agency will merge SEO and PPC fees together as one. This is entirely dishonest since the billing looks misleading and fails to demonstrate where your funds are allocated. Some agencies pump all your funds into PPC with Google Ads and then perform nothing on the SEO end. As a result, your organic search results are suppressed.

Bottom Line for Plumbing Contractors

Don’t fall for standard B.S. agency sales, as they will end up hurting your company. Unfortunately, most plumbing companies have already been screwed by at least one web company. However, if you learn more about the value of SEO and other digital marketing tasks, you can more easily fend off salesmanship in 2022.

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The industry can be tough to navigate when it comes to plumbing contractor marketing. Plumbers are constantly bombarded with calls from marketing agencies offering new shiny objects in the form of white-label features. But unfortunately, marketing is about salesmanship in many respects, which is bad for the plumber.

In today’s The Plumbing SEO Podcast, Nolen and Jason discuss slap on plumber marketing, which looks behind the curtain at how modern salespeople present the marketing process to local plumbing companies.

Marketing Sales Pitches for Plumbing Companies

The marketing industry is a challenge for plumbers because salespeople frame the marketing process that takes away from the process. An example of this is when a salesperson talks about features from white-label software. This salesperson might offer something like “pins,” but it really doesn’t help your plumbing website rank for any keywords.

The Upsell

Digital marketing services can range from $500 to $10,000 per month, so it’s key to understand what you’re paying for. Some agencies may upsell features unworthy of your investment, like slap-on marketing features that provide no tangible benefits. Companies that educate themselves about digital marketing can avoid such upsales and focus on ROI.

The Dog & Pony Show

Using a lot of big words does not mean the services works. For example, many plumbing marketing agencies will put on a dog and pony show with reporting, audits, and metrics that mean absolutely nothing. Once you start paying $1,100 per month, or more, you will grow frustrated quickly. Unfortunately, these shows don’t evolve into tangible actions that help your company.

The Urgency Instigator

The worse part of getting hosed by a marketing salesperson is when they create false urgency about your website or online presence. For example, they might show you competitor metrics out of context to get your blood boiling in these cases. However, since these salespeople don’t have the resources to actually help you close the gap, they only provide slap-on solutions.

Slap-On Marketing Examples

So what are some examples of slap-on marketing? Sometimes it’s easier to look at real-world instances so you can prevent these sales pitches from working on your company in 2022. Take a look at some prime examples of slap-on plumbing marketing below:

Heat Maps

Heat maps are relatively worthless unless they show up on your service and city pages with captions. For example, DataPins is a powerful local SEO tool because it disperses pins to the most relevant pages for SEO purposes. Unfortunately, other forms of heat maps barely do anything for your business.

Blog Posts

Most plumbing company blog posts are worse than worthless because they hurt your overall website authority. By publishing hundreds of 500-word blog posts that fail to target keywords, you are polluting Google’s index and telling search engines that you produce bad content regularly. 

As a result, your crawl budget may lower, and you may lose ranking on your service pages.

Website Templates

If your website comes from a stock template, you can rest assured the agency loves slap-on marketing. Stock templates are prevalent throughout the web because they’re dirt cheap, and agencies can scale them across hundreds of clients. 

Unfortunately, Google knows that these templates appear on thousands of websites, marking your website as completely non-unique.

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Strong brand signals increase conversions for plumbing companies in 2022. If you’ve ever wondered why SEO works for some people and does not work for others, the answer is in the brand. A well-known plumbing company with a branded presence typically dominates online and grows its business over time.

In today’s The Plumbing SEO podcast episode, Nolen and Jason dive into the importance of branding for conversion rates. You can watch the video version of the podcast below:

What is a Plumbing Brand?

A plumbing brand is an intangible concept rooted in consumers’ perception of a company, product, or individual. In laypeople’s terms, it’s how people feel about your plumbing company. 

If they don’t feel anything at all, that’s a problem. If they feel disgusted, that’s a problem. The goal is to make them associate credibility, trust, and competence with your brand, making them feel positive emotions.

What are Brand Signals?

The literal definition of a brand has existed for centuries. However, the digital landscape has expanded what a brand means for plumbers. In Google’s eyes, brand signals help construct the hierarchy of plumbing companies and influence their rankings, conversions, and appeal.

Company Website

Your plumbing company website is one of the most crucial brand signals. By publishing a high-quality website, your plumbing bsuiness is showcasing a digital business card to the world. In addition, your website sends clear signals to Google about your brand with proper coding and SEO.

Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile is another extension of your brand. In this case, it is directly affiliated with Google itself. As you know, Google shows GBP listings on the Local Map 3-Pack, which appear for the majority of local searches. An optimized GBP works wonders for brand signaling.

3rd-Party Reviews

Reviews from credible platforms like Google, Yelp, Facebook, and others serve as critical brand signals for plumbers. Getting reviews on these networks allows customers to research your company quickly and for Google to assign legitimacy to your business. 

Of course, positive reviews are most valuable, but accumulating feedback, in general, is a brand signal.

When a customer searches for your brand name on Google, they demonstrate prior knowledge of its existence. For example, they may have heard about your company from a friend or seen the name mentioned on Nextdoor or another community network. 

Branded Search

They may have seen your ad on Facebook or another platform in some cases. It doesn’t matter how they came to learn of your company, only that they took action. Once Google registers that lots of people are searching directly for your brand name, they will assign more value to your online entity. 

Social Media Activity

A social media presence is another valuable brand signal for plumbers. YouTube is especially effective if you produce videos of your staff and even self-made commercials. Embedding YouTube videos on your website and other social platforms further expands its brand signal value. Other popular social networks include Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Brands Impact on Conversions

Consumer psychology always gravitates towards trust and comfort. Your potential clients are ready to spend money on plumbing services, and they want to get it right the first time. By establishing your brand using some of the strategies listed above, you can become that credible customer brand. 

Remember that offline actions like in-person greetings, fundraiser events, and performing excellent services contribute to your brand. Your offline activities will manifest themselves online as well, in the form of customer reviews. If you understand the synergy of a plumbing brand, you have a great chance to dominate your local market in 2022.

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Nolen and Jason discuss user intent on today’s Plumbing Webmasters podcast. One of the most significant changes in Google’s algorithm has been user intent in the past decade. As a result, websites from 12 years ago that once dominated have lost out to websites targeting specific intent.

What is User Intent?

User intent is Google’s perceived intent of search queries based on large-scale data analysis. If x amount of people who search for plumbing click on a plumbing service website, Google concludes that the term’s primary intent is to locate a plumbing service rather than general information.

How Plumbers Can Influence User Intent

Plumbing companies can influence user intent through various levers, including company branding, on-site content, and SEO signaling. Plumbers should brand their company as a plumbing entity and fill their website with relevant content that demonstrates trust and credibility.

Company Branding

Your first chance to meet user intent is with your company and domain name. For example, if you specialize in slab leak repair, jimslableakrepair.com will be a beneficial name. However, it also limits you to a particular category. Still, Google will view your name as the leader in this specialty.

Of course, it’s not as simple as choosing a name. First, your website must meet the criteria Google lays out for its authority websites. For example, quality content, schema markup, and quality backlinks all contribute to your website’s brand. So keep these things in mind when choosing a name.

On-Site Content

Your web content is a great way to meet user intent in the plumbing industry. For example, you should publish a service page for each type of plumbing service you offer in 2022. In addition, you can strengthen intent by posting schema pins using the DataPins tool, which validates your service and service area.

Some plumbers try to expand user intent through blog posts, but most fail to move the needle in comparison to DataPins. In addition, blog posts don’t validate your company, particularly when written by outsourced content creators who are typically not affiliated with the plumbing industry.

SEO Signaling

Another way to meet user intent is through SEO signaling. SEO signals can include backlinks, branded search, and general entity connections. Using LSA keywords within your content is a great way to establish user intent. The more quality content you publish on a topic, the better.

Other signals include NAP citations from HomeAdvisor, Angi, Yelp, and social signals from Facebook, YouTube, and Linkedin. Whenever your brand is mentioned on another website, you will strengthen your brand signaling even without a link. 

How User Intent Helps Plumbers

Ultimately, implementing these strategies will earn your website more traffic, generate more leads, and convert more customers in 2022. In addition, as you rank for long-tail keywords for various services in various cities, you pick up a more comprehensive range of potential clients. It’s a win-win for plumbers.

If you’d like to learn more about framing your plumbing business as a Google entity, get in touch with Plumbing Webmasters. Our content marketing strategy is crafted to help contractors establish themselves as authorities on specific services.

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